Robert G Allen

Robert G. Allen was born in 1948 in Canada as the younger of two children to an accountant father and a homemaker mother. Initially unsuccessful in real estate and unable to build wealth, he invested $6,000 in seminars across the U.S., discovering techniques for buying properties without cash or good credit. This led him to form his own real estate company and author his breakthrough book Nothing Down: How to Buy Real Estate with Little or No Money Down (1980), which became a perennial New York Times bestseller after he pitched it directly to a publisher's president. To prove skeptics wrong, Allen ran a full-page ad challenging anyone to send him to a city with just $100 and no wallet; the Los Angeles Times took him up on it, and in 57 hours (specifically 72 hours per challenge terms), he bought seven properties using none of his own money, returning $20 change—this catapulted his fame. He repeated such feats, including The Challenge (2000), where he selected three unemployed people from St. Louis unemployment lines (with no jobs, no money, and bad credit) and guided them to buy rental properties and generate $5,000 in 90 days, with one couple aiming for $100,000 in the next year. His career expanded into seminars, infomercials, and serial entrepreneurship amid challenges like the 2008 financial crisis, where a venture nearly collapsed. Allen authored or co-authored influential books every few years, including Creating Wealth (1986, #1 New York Times bestseller outlining seven steps to riches and mindset shifts), Multiple Streams of Income, Multiple Streams of Internet Income, The One Minute Millionaire, Cash In A Flash, and Cracking The Millionaire Code. Awarded 'America’s Top Millionaire Maker' by the National Speaker’s Association, he claims to have created more U.S. millionaires than anyone else, with his students generating over a billion dollars in revenue from his teachings on wealth-building through real estate, positive attitude, and multiple income streams. He continues as a serial entrepreneur and investor, emphasizing 'walking the talk' via public demonstrations.